Tish James Becomes New York’s Attorney General And First Black Woman Elected To Statewide Office

The victory also made her the first African-American woman in the state to ever hold the office of attorney general.

Letitia A. “Tish” James made history Tuesday night after she was projected to win her election to New York state’s next attorney general. The campaign victory would make her the first African-American woman elected to statewide office and the first Black person in the state to ever hold the office of attorney general.

James was most recently the New York City public advocate before she decided to launch her campaign bid for attorney general. The 59-year-old secured major endorsements, support from voters, dominated conversations on Twitter and received attention via national polls and other news reports.

The HBCU graduate recently discussed her political outlook with Ebony, detailing how she came to run for attorney general.

“I had set my eyes on running for mayor in 2021. That was the plan, but then things changed,” she explained. in an interview published late last month. “As I traveled and spoke to individuals throughout the city, including my neighbors, [there] was just this fierce urgency of now, particularly since my immigrant neighbors were under attack, hiding in the shadows of government. The voices of a number of my former law professors who talked about civil rights and the training we received at Howard University were cemented in my mind.”

“This campaign was never really about me or any of the candidates who ran,” James said in her primary victory speech in September. “It was about the people, but mostly it was about that man in the White House who can’t go a day without threatening our fundamental rights.”